In recent years, the market size of the packaging and printing industry has reached trillions of yuan. Gross output value of China’s packaging and printing industry reached CNY 1 trillion in 2009, surpassing Japan to become the second largest in the world in 2016, gross output value of the industry was nearly CNY 2 trillion.

According to CRI analysis, the packaging and printing industry is fragmented with a low concentration rate. There are over 300,000 packaging companies, among which only 20,000 are above designated size (annual sales revenue above CNY 20 million) while the rest 90% are SMEs. The industry plays poor in scale with weak R&D capabilities.

It is expected that from 2017 to 2021, the packaging and printing industry will focus on six priorities, including low-carbon packaging, intelligent packaging and safe packaging, to step up with innovative and low-carbon development. The industry will be upgraded from being quantity-oriented to quality-oriented. CRI projects that the packaging and printing industry still has room to grow as China’s economy will keep growing at over 6% per year from 2017 to 2021. However, competition, especially inside competition, will be fierce. Companies that lag behind might be weeded out, while large-scale ones which have technology advantages, focus on shareholder returns, adopt advanced technologies and occupy more market shares will continue to grow.